The Sunshine Boy

Viswanathan Anand – Magnus Carlsen
3rd Norway Chess; Stavanger, June 19, 2015
Spanish C95

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 0-0 8. Nbd2 Re8 9. Re1 b5 10. Bc2 Bf8 11. Nf1 g6 12. h3 Bb7 13. Ng3 Nb8 14. d4 Nbd7. “It took us half an hour each. If we had just played the Breyer, it would have taken us two minutes!”, then Anand joked. 15. a4 c5 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 Bg7 18. Qd2 Rb8 19. Nh2! A fresh novelty, intending Nh2-g4. Colourless is 19. Ra3 Nc5 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rea1 ½ : ½ Dueball – Matanović, Bath 1973. 19. ... Bc8? A serious positional mistake. 19. ... Qc7 20. Ng4 Nxg4 21. hxg4 Nc5 seems better. 20. Ng4. Anand said afterwards that 20. axb5 axb5 21. Ng4 was even more accurate. 20. ... Nc5. 20. ... h5 fails to 21. Nh6+ Kh7 22. Nxf7 Qe7 23. Bxf6! (Anand’s analysis). 21. Nh6+! Bxh6 22. Bxh6 bxa4 23. Ra2 a3 24. bxa3 Nfd7 25. f4!? a5 26. Rf1 f6. This move is at least doubtful. 26. ... Rb3!? (Anand) was worth considering. 27. f5! Nd3 28. Bxd3 cxd3

29. Qd1! Anand refuses taking the Pawn and focuses on his attack. 29. ... Re7 30. Raf2. “Looks like tremendous trouble for Magnus Carlsen. He’s in very serious trouble!”, Grandmaster Jan Gustafsson said. 30. ... Rf7 31. Qxd3 Nc5 32. Qf3 Ba6 33. Qg4! g5. The most committal reply, but even after 33. ... Bc8! 34. Qh4!! Black cannot survive White’s powerful attack. 34. h4! Bxf1 35. Rxf1 Qd7 36. hxg5 fxg5 37. Qh5. Anand happily prepares himself to enter into a winning endgame. 37. ... Kh8 38. f6 Rg8 39. Bg7+ Rfxg7 40. fxg7+ Qxg7 41. Nf5! Qg6 42. Qxg6 Rxg6 43. Ne7! Kg7. After 43. ... Rh6 44. Rf8+ Kg7 45. Rc8! Black is helpless against the coming Ne7-f5+xd6. 44. Nxg6 Kxg6 45. Rf8 a4 46. c4 h5. If 46. ... Nxe4 then 47. Ra8 Nc5 48. Kf2 h5 49. Ke3 and wins. 47. Kf2 1 : 0.

Viswanathan Anand vs. Magnus Carlsen
Photo: Chess.com